Father Samuel Mazzuchelli and Thomas Kelly

MAZZUCHELLI, KELLY, MATHEWSON

Posted By: A.J.P (email)
Date: 3/19/2008 at 14:22:52

Telegraph Herald
Dubuque,Iowa
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Father Samuel Mazzuchelli and Thomas Kelly are tied together by local folklore

By Linda Mathewson of The Telegraph Herald

The month of March is the month of the Irish.

Many Irish came to Dubuque at the invitation of Bishop Loras to seek their fortune and escape the famine in Ireland. Most of them settled at the south end of the city nicknamed " Dublin." In this month of all things Irish, pull up a stool next to the peat fire, and I'll weave you a tale of two Kellys -- one Irish, one not.

One whose name was Kelly, one whose real name was not.

One built a cathedral beneath the bluff. The other mined lead on top.

One saved souls. The other saved gold.

One went out among the many. The other kept to himself.

But they each had a part in the story of the Irish in Dubuque.

The first of the Kellys was not really a Kelly at all. He wasn't even Irish. He was the Dominican missionary, Father Samuel Mazzuchelli.

He arrived in Dubuque, in 1835.

Mazzuchelli was a foreign and unpronounceable name to the Irish whom he served. They called him "Father Matthew Kelly." Though he was Italian, and most of the Catholics he served were Irish, there was a mutual respect and love that transcended national loyalties. He ministered to their spiritual needs and built the Cathedral below the bluff which bears the name of the other Kelly in our tale -- Thomas Kelly. Father Mazzuchelli died in 1864 at the age of 57. He left a legacy of faith.

Thomas Kelly was born in Ireland, in 1808. He came to Dubuque in the spring of 1833. He was a reclusive, secretive man. He lived and mined lead in the area now known as "Kelly's Bluff," behind St. Raphael Cathedral.

In 1837, he built a smelting furnace for his own use. It was still in operation in 1846, as shown in the lithograph picture of Dubuque by J.C. Wild.

He continued to work his lead mines for several years and became a rich man.

But his life was not without troubles.

Rumor has it that he killed a man in Albany, N.Y. in 1850. When arrested, he refused to give his name or where he lived. He was committed to the insane asylum in Utica, N.Y. One night he escaped and made his way back to Dubuque and his mines, where he remained for the rest of his life. Whatever the facts, Kelly never spoke of the incident to but a few, and the truth remains as much a mystery as the man.

Thomas Kelly died on May 15, 1867, at the age of 59. He left no will, only a note stating that anyone wanting his gold would have to hunt for it.

Lore says that he buried the majority of his wealth in a large iron chest he had made just before his death. But like the leprechaun's fabled pot of gold, it is elusive and yet to be found.